Recent Purchases

Things have been quite stressful lately, and for me, nothing fixes stress like some new purchases! I have behaved though, as nothing has cost me more than 25 bucks.

First, I purchased this beautiful antique glove box, which I am using to store my bakelite jewelery collection (as I only have 2 pars of gloves...not enough to fill a whole box)

 Then I "won" this box of 4 pairs of full fashioned stockings on Ebay. How rare it is for me to find a shade that I like (because I am so pale and most stockings that I find are too dark for me...it just looks ridiculous) I absolutely love vintage stockings - they look better, feel better, and last longer than modern stockings. I especially love cuban heels, although european or french heels are just as nice.

 

Lastly, I purchased this Pendleton 49'er from my friend Dellaney at Cobblestone Vintage. I have wanted one forever, but have never found one that is both in my size and affordable. There is a tiny hole on the back that will be very easy to fix, but she insisted on lowering the price because of it.

Here are some old 49'er ads:

 Always,
Ruby B.

Rockasilly Vs. Rockabilly WEEK 4

No, this is not to say that leopard is cheesy. Leopard is wonderful when used properly! But this...this is just plain silly.

Today Was A Waste Of Makeup!

Today is day three of the worst cold ever. I woke up feeling about 30% better, put myself together and went to class.....and then the second I got to class started getting "the chills" and my voice almost completely disappeared. Of course, it had to be my one class where the professor is a giant bastard who hates me and gave me a hard time for leaving. Too bad!


Anyway, when I arrived back home there were a few lovelies waiting for me in my mailbox...as if they knew I was in desperate need of a pick-me-up!

 

A lovely new bullet bra, a bunch of new stockings, and some hair flowers! (Because my collection of 5 million hair flowers just isn't enough!)

Hopefully I will have something much more exciting to blog about once I am better...

Always,
Ruby B.

Completely Irrelevant Post

Today is yet another sick day for me...surprise surprise! Things have been so hectic lately that I haven't really done anything "post-worthy"-well, with the exception of plenty of ebay/etsy searching, but I feel like posting photos of things that I do not even own more than once in a while gets a bit tedious and repetitive.

 ~The rest of this post is completely unrelated to the rest of my blog and may cause your mouth to start watering uncontrollably~

HOWEVER, I did have the most amazing meal EVER yesterday! We went to The Crooked Tree (a wonderful little creperie) and although it was very naughty, ordered the sweet crepe special: The S'mores Crepe! It was composed of melted Belgian chocolate, homemade marshmallows, and tons of graham cracker. There really is nothing better!!!

Always,
Ruby B.

New Glasses!

In anticipation of spring (which is taking way too long to reach NY) I purchased a new (well, new old stock) pair of sunglasses today...as my old ones mysteriously broke in half...

The photos do them no justice at all, in person they are a beautiful copper-ish color that changes with the light. Perhaps I'll try to take a better picture of them once I get the lenses put in. Funny, being a photographer/photo student, you'd think I would have a better digital camera! Film is just so much nicer.

Always,
Ruby B.

Gloves!

Today I bought a lovely new pair of 1940s crocheted black gloves. Being the crazy shopoholic that I am, this just made me want to look for even more lovely gloves online. So, here is some unnecessary glove porn (click on the link to purchase):

 

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And a gorgeous 1920s glove box!

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Always,

Ruby B.

Rockasilly Vs. Rockabilly WEEK 3

 

Again, really not much to say.

Antiquing Photos

This weekend we went to Virginia to visit my fella's family...which meant southern antiquing!!! I LOVE shopping for vintage and antiques outside of big cities - they're always so fairly priced and not quite as picked over as some of the stores in NYC or Los Angeles. Another huge difference is that they don't charge you $20 just to take some pictures! So, in true blogger spirit, I snapped a few silly photos of the two antique malls we went to...

And this is the adorable 1937 copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales that I purchased:

Always,
Ruby B.

New Orleans

This past week, my fella and I went to New Orleans (not realizing that the entire time we were there would be mardis gras)... I was so excited to use my new lens to take dorky photos of the two of us there - as well as get some serious work done - but due to an unfortunate series of events, only a handful of photos were taken. They're horrible, but here are a few...

And here are some old Mardis Gras photos for your viewing pleasure...brought to you by "Too much Free Time"

Always,

Ruby B.

RIP Jane Russell

 Yesterday, Feb 28th, Ernestine "Jane" Geraldine Russell passed away at the age of 89.

Best known for her roles in "The Outlaw" and  "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," she was truly one of a kind. Bob Hope was quoted as saying "Culture is the ability to describe Jane Russell without moving your hands," obviously referring to her measurements of 38D-24-36 and standing 5'7". You can read the obituary here

Rest In Peace Jane, You will be missed but never forgotten!

Rockasilly Vs. Rockabilly WEEK 2

 

I don't believe anything needs to be said about this one... 

Always, 

Ruby B.

Bakelite & Fakelite

Today I went to the Brooklyn flea market, which proved to be mostly disgustingly overpriced. However, the whole trip was worth it for two reasons: in the winter, the flea market takes place inside a beautiful old savings bank, and the vendors are inside all of the tellers windows and even the original vault! I wish I had brought my camera, but I've just never been the sort of person to take snapshots...perhaps I should change that - for blogging's sake. The second reason is that I got the most AMAZING deal. Long story short, I picked up a beautifully carved purple bakelite bangle, which was priced $25!! Now, if you know anything about bakelite, it's that colors like blue and purple - which faded to brown and green over the years - are both hard to find and very pricey. I rubbed the bangle to smell it an sure enough it emitted the deliciously gross smell of real bakelite. When the vendor saw me doing this, she immediately said "Oh, that's french bakelite, it won't smell" ...which was very strange, because the only french bakelite that doesn't smell is fake french bakelite...so did this woman think she was selling me fake bakelite? And how did she not know that it smelt? Perhaps she thought it was fake and that is why it was priced so low, but she did not want to tell me that? The whole thing was very very strange, but in the end I walked away with a beautiful purple bakelite bangle for about a quarter of what it should cost. Victory!! And  just to make any other bakelite lovers jealous, here is a photo of my new love:

Also, I came upon a wonderful website with everything you need to know about testing bakelite and the warning signs of "fakelite" - which is being produced and sold at shocking rates! I thought this might be useful for anyone new to the wonderful world of bakelite: www.fakelite.com

Always,
Ruby B.

A Short Rant and Carolyn Jones

Today I walked into a vintage store - which shall remain nameless -  with the most outrageous prices I have ever seen in my entire life (and I grew up in Los Angeles)!!! There were moth bitten acrylic 1950's sweaters that would otherwise be crowding the shelves of thrift stores, priced at $150! I walked over to the the lingerie section, and a single pair of 1960's stockings that could be bought in bulk on Ebay were $30 each! Not only were 90% of the pieces in the store completely ordinary and not one-of-a-kind whatsoever, but NOTHING was in great condition! The sad part is, there is a reason why vintage stores - in large cities in particular - can get away with this. Not a single customer in that store knew anything about vintage...or at least, they did not look it. Thanks to the popularity of Mad Men, Katy Perry and the like, every fashion magazine is now telling women that "retro" is back in style. So these women who would normally shop at whatever department or chain stores are currently popular (not that there's anything wrong with that) are now walking into vintage stores ready to pay a pretty penny to look "fashionable". Vintage store owners recognize this, and take every opportunity to up their prices accordingly. Obviously, I fully understand how this would benefit the store owners and that they have every right to adjust their prices according to current demand, but true vintage lovers are being robbed! One can only hope that this fad ends as soon as possible and the price of vintage will go back to normal.


On a side note, an adorable little old lady stopped me in the street today to tell me that I looked like Carolyn Jones (I assume she means Carolyn as Morticia Addams, as I have long black hair and a heart shaped face)...I love little old ladies.

Ruby The Tattood Lady

I CONSTANTLY have people telling me that I would look so much nicer without all my tattoos, or that "tattoos don't go with vintage," but they are wrong I tell you! Wrong! People must think that tattoos were invented in the 80's! I love my tattoos (well, except a few that I got under-aged...) and I think they are just as important to my outward appearance as my floral dresses and bakelite jewelery. Most of them are even vintage inspired or taken straight from antique flash...so how they do not go well with vintage is beyond me.

Here are a few tattood beauties:

And the "Original" Tattood Lady (as she liked to call herself):

Always,
Ruby B.